NEW YORK -- Here is a recap of live coverage of Saturday night's Penn-Columbia game, Penn's 80-72 victory propels the Quakers into the NCAA Tournament next month. (Read from bottom to top to follow along in chronological order.)
See Monday's DP for complete coverage of this weekend's Ivy Championship clinching games, and a look ahead to the Quakers three remaining games and the tournament that follows. -----
9:03--It's over, the Quakers are going dancing. Penn wins the game 80-72 and wins the Ivy League championship. The Red and Blue is back in the NCAA Tournament. 9:02--Osmundson fouls out and Dalen Cuff hits a free throw to cut the lead to eight. After Begley is fouled off the rebound, the "Ivy Champs!" chant intesifies. 9:01--The Lions continue to foul and extend the game. The lead is down to 9. 8:57--One minute to go until an Ivy championship, Penn still leads 78-67. 8:54--Joe Jones takes out his seniors as the Quakers lead 78-67 with 1:33 to play. At the previous timeout the Penn Band played the "Hey" Song and the PA system at Levien played "Enter Sandman" to try to drown it out. 8:50--Jaaber's 26 points is a career high. 8:48--The Lions' press is still of no avail, as Penn breaks it with ease time and time again. The Penn faithful begins an "Ivy Champs!" chant. The Quakers lead 74-59 with 2:59 to go. 8:41--The final media timeout comes with 3:59 to play, and Penn is still comfortably in front, 70-55. 8:38--Preston fouls out with 11 points and gets a nice ovation as the Lions' captain's career at Levien gymnasium ends. 8:36--Columbia continues the press but Penn has no trouble breaking it on subsequent possessions. With 4:58 to go, the Quakers lead 68-53. 8:34--After Preston's foul shot is good, the Lions go into a full-court press, but the Quakers break it and Jaaber is fouled. He hits one of two to make the lead 16. More updates on the press to come. 8:30--After the timeout by Penn, Jaaber has a phenomenal put-back dunk, but it's followed by a hoop and a foul by Preston to give Danley his fourth foul with 7:16 to go. Penn still leads 61-46 with Preston going to the line for one after the break. 8:28--Columbia goes on a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 15. Maybe the Lions have one last spurt to make it a close game. 8:24--The Quakers continue their run with another four points and lead 55-37 with 10:16 to go. It looks like it will be a joyous night for the Red and Blue in New York. 8:23--Both teams are already in the bonus with Columbia having nine fouls and Penn having six with over 11 minutes to go. 8:20--Just as Bilsky predicted, the Quakers tightened up on defense with a 16-4 run to start the half, and lead 51-37 with 11:25 to go in the game. 8:16The Quakers' lead is in double digits for the first time, 47-37 with 13:31 to play. But the Quakers big men are in foul trouble: Pettinella has four, Danley has three and Fikiel and Zoller both have two. Osmundson also has three personals, and Whitehurst has two. 8:07--Begley hits his 245th career three, passing Matt Maloney and is now in first place all-time. Penn leads 42-33, largest of the game, with 16:00 left. 8:05--Two more offensive fouls to start the half, Danley now has three fouls, but Columbia calls a timeout as the Quakers extend to a six point lead with 17:04 remaining. 8:00--Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky had this to say during halfime:"I don't think we're playing good enough defense. If we tighten it up in the second half we'll be fine. We gave them a few too many open shots and that's why the score is as it is." 7:55--Halftime stats-- Penn is shooting 50.0 percent from the field, 5-of-15 from behind the arc. But the Quakers are only 4-for-9 from the line. The Lions are shooting 52.2 percent but only 3-of-11 from three and 6-of-11 from the line.Jaaber leads all scorers with 17, and Begley is second with seven. Matt Preston has six to lead Columbia.7:43--Halftime-- Danley hits a layup with three seconds left in the half to give the Quakers the 35-33 lead at the break. Halftime stats to come shortly. 7:42--Offense-defense subs with Danley and Whitehurst towards the end of the half with Danley having two fouls. 7:39--It looks like the Quakers are in for a dogfight tonight. With 1:37 to go in the half, Columbia leads 33-32 and Penn's offense is not running as efficiently as Dunphy would probably like it to. 7:33--Columbia continues to hang in the game, leading now 29-28 with 2:54 to play in the half. Jaaber is driving the Penn offense so far, with 17 of the team's 28 points. He has hit three triples and has two foul shots after this media timeout. 7:28--The Lions hit a three by Matt Preston and a layup by Tito Hill and cut the deficit to 21-20. Coach Fran Dunphy calls his first timeout. 7:21--Begley ties the Penn all-time record in three-pointers, and Lions' coach Joe Jones picks up a technical foul for arguing about the Quakers' offensive rebound that led to the three. Penn now leads 19-14 with 8:00 to go in the half. 7:18--Pettinella picks up his second foul with 9:15 to play, he sits down. Pettinella's foul was offensive, and there have been six or seven of those already. Penn leads 15-14 with 9:00 left in the half. 7:15--10:59 to go in the half, Penn leads 13-11, with both teams playing sloppy on offense. 7:10 p.m.--Osmundson is in the game for the first time tonight, as is Jan Fikiel and Ryan Pettinella. Jaaber hits another three and then gets a steal and a layup giving Penn its first lead at 10-9. 7:05 p.m.--The Quakers start slowly, opening the game with three straight turnovers, and the Lions lead 7-3 with 15:40 to play in the half. The only basket for Penn was an Ibby Jaaber three that bounced off the rim three times before going in. 6:58 p.m.-- The starting lineups are announced. For the second straight night, freshman guard David Whitehurst is starting for the Quakers, in place of Eric Osmundson. Before the National Anthem, Columbia honored its six seniors on Senior Night -- their starting lineup was all seniors.
